Lighter Than Air
Mav6 reported making further progress last week by installing main assemblies on the M1400 airship hull. The M1400 has both internal and external fuel tanks. The external tanks do increase drag, but the designers want to take advantage of the full lift of the airship to carry as much fuel
Military
Israel Aerospace Industries has unveiled the prototype of its "Butterfly" unmanned aircraft system, as part of an effort to develop covert miniature equipment for use by Special Forces personnel. Shown for the first time on the opening day of the AUVSI Conference in Tel Aviv on 20 March,
John McGraw, Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), talks to an American University Radio in Washington about new regulations from the Obama administration concerning unmanned aircraft and U.S. airspace. The explosion of unmanned aircraft systems also raises safety and privacy concerns. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Business
Insitu announced yesterday that it has signed a contract to deliver its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to the Netherlands to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) for the Ministry of Defense (MOD). The Netherlands will use ScanEagle with the MOD both domestically and abroad. “We’re excited to be
The US Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) has released the NextGen Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, Development and Demonstration Roadmap (UAS RD&D Roadmap) Version 1.0. This report represents a significant effort on the part of the JPDO and its six partner agencies to establish a Roadmap of
Military
The US Army has issued an RFI to obtain potential solutions to provide Nano Unmanned Aerial Systems (NUAS) capable of operating in various Army operational environments world-wide. Experience and information obtained from this request for information will be provided to the Director Rapid Equipping Force who will evaluate the
The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have co-organized the third user/stakeholder workshop on Unmanned Aircraft Systems on March 8th 2012, at the ESA Redu Centre, Belgium. The workshop addressed the long-term vision and provided strategic insight to the ESA and EDA approach
The Australian Government has just released draft proposals for qualifications required to obtain a Certificate III in Aviation (Remote Pilot). This qualification reflects the role of a Remote Pilot working in the Aviation Industry. Successful completion will require competency in units that relate to work defined as aligned at Certificate
Events
The workshop on “Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and Optionally Piloted Aircraft (OPA) potential for European border surveillance and search and rescue (SAR) operations” will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria on 18 and 19 April 2012. The workshop is organized by Frontex, in cooperation with the Chief Directorate of Border
Events
Electronic Countermeasures @ GLOW Festival NL 2011 from liam young on Vimeo. The Electronic Countermeasures project is essentially an autonomous, roaming Internet swarm, constructed from repurposed UAS. The project is lead by Liam Young of think tank Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today and Unknown Fields Division, with assistance from Eleanor Saitta, Oliviu
Business
When Elbit Systems announced a $50 million sale “to supply Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to a governmental office of a country in the Americas” on Jan. 3,there was speculation that Colombia was the buyer. The contract called for “systems such as the Universal Ground Control Stations (UGCS)
Business
Russian military aircraft manufacturer Irkut has signed a contract with Vietnam to build a small unmanned aircraft for the Southeast Asian country, Izvestia daily reported last week. The $10 million deal, with Vietnam Aerospace Association (VASA), was signed last week, Yury Malov, head of the Irkut Engineering, Irkut's